Liking Yourself
by Gray Dufault
Summary: A new character, Haley, is introduced. She has epilepsy, but hasn't had one siezer since the crash. After being there for over two months, and they suddenly start up again, she needs Jack to help her.
1. Chapter 1

Before you start reading the story, I just want to say that I like… know nothing about epilepsy. The stuff that I put in this story, was just stuff I got from watching Life's Little Miracles and Trauma Life in the ER and stuff. So if there is stuff that is wrong, which there probably is, I'm truly very sorry, but it's all I could think of for the story. I'm not an expert, so don't think that I'm trying to tell everyone that this is how epilepsy really is. Ok now for the story.

Haley was getting worried. Her seizers had stopped completely since the crash, so she wasn't worried when she had finally found her bag, without her medication in it. Maybe the island had something to do with it, she thought. But after they had been stranded for over two weeks, she completely forgot that she even used to be epileptic. She didn't have to worry about taking her pills every morning, and she didn't have to worry about having a sudden a seizer while she alone, and hurting herself. Though she was away from her family, her boyfriend, her dog, and her own bed, she liked the fact that she could be herself again. Nothing to worry about, other than deciding if she was going to have boar, fruit or fish for dinner. There wasn't much going for her in the way of stress. Well you know, besides the abductions, the people dying, and the crazy monster thing that lived in the jungle. But today was different. Today and the day before it, and the one day before that, were all different. Two days ago, Haley had 7 seizers. The next day, she had 10. And today, Haley had 9. This is what it was like when she didn't take her medication. But she hadn't been taking it for over two months, what made them start up again out of the blue? She needed to talk to the doctor. But she had never spoken to him before. She had spoken to his friend, Kate, only once, when she needed tampons. Kate stole them for her, from the hot southern guy. She was afraid to talk to this doctor guy. First off, she wasn't even sure what his name was. That's pretty bad, isn't it? They've been on an island with less than 50 people for over two months, and they didn't even know each other's names. But she didn't need to know anyone's names. She just stuck herself. She read and played her gameboy, until the batteries ran out. She hung out with Shannon a few times, even though she thought she was annoying. But then… She died. So that was the end of that. Haley knew that this doctor had been in the hatch a lot, whatever that was. She wasn't really bothered to find out what it was, but she had to sooner or later. She had to talk to the doctor and see if he had any medication she could take. She was nervous. He was kind of intimidating. She had watched him from a far a few times, and he seemed very confidant in everything he did. Whether it was in giving orders, or saving someone's life. Plus he was really good looking, so that made matters even worse. Haley was most definitely not good at talking to good looking guys. She was lucky her boyfriend from back home, was the one who made the first move.

"Uh, Hurley?" Haley asked, walking along the sand. Hurley smiled and turned towards her. "You're name's Hurley, right?"

"Ya. And you're… uh… I know you're name, I remember from the manifest thing. You're…"

"Don't worry about it. I just… I know that you're friends with … uh… Jake?"

"Jack?"

"Ya, Jack. I need to talk to him."

"Ok well he's in the hatch. Do you know where that is?"

"No. I just… Well, if you see him, could you just –" That's when Haley completely blacked out, and fell to the ground, smacking her head off a rock.

"Whoa!" Hurley cried out. He couldn't believe what just happened! What did she fall down for? He ran over to her, and saw her shaking on the ground, like crazy. What was she doing? "Whoa, that's blood!" Hurley grew faint at the sight of blood, but he knew he had to get her to Jack straight away. He looked up as he picked up her shaking body and started carrying her into the jungle. "I see no blood, I see no blood, I see no blood," He repeated to himself. Just as he was starting to run out of breath, Haley stopped shaking, and they both ran into Kate.

"What's going on?" Kate asked.

"I dunno, she fell and hit a rock. She's not bleeding."

"Yes she is!"

"No! Uh uh! No blood!"

"Hurley, look!"

"No! I can't! She's not bleeding!"

Kate wasn't sure what to do, so she threw her tank top off, revealing her used-to-be white bra, and pressed it against her wound.

"I can't carry her much longer," Hurley huffed.

"I'll run and get Jack and tell him to meet you half way." With that, Kate sprinted to the hatch, yelling Jack's name, as loud as she could.


	2. Chapter 2

Jack was sitting in front of the computer, typing in the numbers, when he heard the distant calling of his name. He finished what he was doing, and pressed execute. He waited for the numbers to recount, before heading outside to see what was the matter. He was surprised to see Kate running up to the hatch, wearing nothing but jeans and a bra.

"That's a little forward, don't you think?" Jack joked.

"We don't have time. Someone got hurt and Hurley can't carry her much longer."

"Where are they?"

"They were about halfway here a little while ago, they probably still are."

The two of them set out into the jungle together, to find Hurley, taking baby steps, with the girl knocked unconscious in his arms.

"What happened?" Jack asked, as he took a hold of Haley in his arms.

"I dunno. She said that she needed to talk to you about something, and then boom, she fell and hit her head on a rock, and started shaking like there's no tomorrow."

Kate pressed her tank top onto Haley's wound more, to try and stop the bleeding, as Jack carried her the rest of the way to the hatch.

"Do you either of you know her name?" Jack asked, as her set her down on the bed, and applied pressure to her wound.

"I totally forget it, dude," Hurley said, sounding bummed.

"You know, I don't even know. I talked to her before, I helped her get…" She paused, and smiled. "Stuff. But you know, I don't even remember."

"One of you go back to camp and find out where she sleeps. See if she has a wallet there with a drivers license in it."

There was no need for anyone to leave the hatch just yet. Haley woke up on top of some covers, in a bunk bed. She could hear people whispering, but couldn't make it out, and didn't want to, considering the size of her massive headache.

"Hey, you finally decided to join us," Jack said, as he saw her open her eyes. "Can you tell me you're name?"

"Haley."

"I'm Jack." He pointed to her medic alert bracelet. "So you're epileptic."

"Ya."

"You hit your head on a rock when you had you're seizer. When the wound stops bleeding, I'm going to have to stitch it up."

"Um are you kidding me?"

"No."

"Well is there anything to freeze it with?"

"No."

"Ha. You're not stitching it up. I'll just keep this bandage on it."

"You mean my shirt?" Kate spoke up.

Haley saw that she wasn't wearing one, and blushed. "I guess. Uh… Thanks? But… don't you have gauze or something?"

"Ya, but we can't just put gauze on it. It'll get infected."

"I'm sure it'll get infected anyway. We're on a damn island. What do you want to sew it up with, fabric thread?"

"It works a lot better than doing nothing. If we don't stitch it up, it won't heal. The wound is too deep."

Haley could feel her face getting hot, and tears starting to well up in her eyes. "I can't… It'll hurt too much."

"Haley, it'll hurt more if we don't do anything." Jack still had his hand pressed against her head.

"You can't. I just… How many stitches will it take?"

"I would say about 12."

"What? It's that big? No." Tears were seeping out of her eyes now, and running down her face. She didn't like pain and wasn't good at dealing with even the smallest amounts of it. "Please."

"Haley," Jack looked straight into her eyes, and Haley looked back into his. They were so blue, so deep. Like he had seen so much for his day. Been through so much. "Trust me. Ok, it will hurt. But it will help. And it's ok if you cry. We all know that it hurts, and that's ok."

"Ya, sweety, we'll be right here, ok?" Kate chipped in.

"I… I can't watch." Hurley stepped out of the room.

Jack grabbed Haley's hand and put it on the tank top, to replace his own hand. "Press hard on that for a minute. I'll be right back."

Sawyer was sitting under a tree, reading Watership down, for 4th time. Charlie walked by, without looking at him, but Sawyer wouldn't let him pass without saying his own thoughts.

"You sure you don't want any of your stash? We could make a trade."

Charlie stopped, not thinking of anything he was saying, but only of Claire. He saw her in the distance, rocking Aaron in his crib. "It's not my stash. It's yours now."

"And you don't want any? Not even a little?"

"No. Not even a little." He continued on his way to meet Mr. Ecko to help him with building the church.

"Fine." He turned back to his book and started to read it again. "Back to my book. The only damn one I can find."

"Ok, close your eyes," Jack said, coming back into the room alone. "Just lie on your side and cover your eyes."

Haley turned onto her right side, so he could stitch up her left side, from where he was sitting. She put both of her hands over he eyes, and pressed so hard, it felt like she was going push her eyes right into her skull. She was afraid, more than anything else.

Jack had the thread and needle ready, but was nervous for Haley. She couldn't have been more than 18 years old, and she seemed really frightened to have this done. "Ok, I'm going to start now," he warned her.

She felt her hands digging deeper into her eyes as she managed to whimper an "Mhmm" through closed lips. She felt the needle pierce her skin and poke out. She felt the thread being pulled through her skin, and she wanted to scream. She didn't, but she wanted to. She bit her lip and closed her eyes tighter than she thought possible.

It seemed like it was taking forever to do, and she could hardly handle it anymore. She started to let out small wimpers as he re-pierced her skin again and again. By the time he was finished, she was onto crying for real. He taped some gauze to it, covering almost half her forehead, and down her temple. He rubbed her hair.

"You're done," He said gently.

She took her hands away from her face, revealing red and swollen eyes.

"You did good."

She didn't care. She was in pain and she felt like dying. When her crying calmed down, shortly after, she closed her eyes and fell asleep.

"Hey Freckles," Sawyer said with a smile, as Kate walked by, wearing a new shirt.

"Hi."

"What's new and exciting these days? Any new weird people pretending to be one of us?"

"No. But a girl had a seizer and hit her head on a rock."

"Ouch," Sawyer sucked in some air to show the pain he felt for her. "That's gotta hurt."

"Ya. I need to look through your meds."

"I believe Jack needs to beat me in another poker game for the rest of those."

"I just need one. I need Depakote or Tegretol. Or… Damn, I knew there was some other ones. I should have written it down."

"You're not getting anything. I remember what you did. Don't you think I don't know."

"Know what?"

"You stole my tampons."

"Your tampons? What do you need tampons for?"

"Well what do you need 'em for?"

Kate just gave him a look and put her hands on her hips.

"Fine, I got nothing good on that one. But you ain't getting any Depakote stuff."

"We need to see if there's any seizer medication."

"Sorry freckles." He smiled and leaned back against the tree.


	3. Chapter 3

Haley woke up in a state of mild confusion, and looked around. She saw Jack standing over on the other side of the room. "Jack," She whispered. He turned around, to see her start shaking.

It didn't last long, and when it finished, she went right back to sleep. It was like she woke up because her body knew the seizer was coming.

"Haley," Jack whispered.

She slowly opened her eyes and looked at him.

"When did you run out of your medication?" He asked.

"I didn't."

"You didn't run out?"

"No. I haven't been taking it. After we crashed, I found my bag, but my meds weren't in it. The pocket they were in, was unzipped. But…" She stopped for a second, and sat up. "We had already been here for a few days before I found my bag. So I wasn't worried that my meds were gone."

"Why not?"

"Because after we crashed… my seizers stopped."

"They… They stopped? Completely?"

"Completely. Until two days ago."

"Two days ago."

"That's right."

"And how many seizers have you had since then?"

"27 I think."

"In less than three days?"

"Ya. That's what it used to be like, before I started taking my meds. But after we crashed, they went away. They stopped completely, I didn't even have an absent seizer. Not one. I was fine. But then they just came back."

"I wonder why."

"Ya. What would make them just come back?"

"Or go away."

They both sat in silence for a bit, until Kate came back with the bad news.

"He won't budge. He's not going to give us anything."

"Well what if it's her medication to begin with? Has her name on the bottle?" Jack suggested.

"I don't think so. Remember what he did when Shannon needed her puffers? He doesn't care."

"Well we can try. I'll go talk to him." He turned to Haley. "You stay put. I don't want you getting hurt again."

"What am I supposed to do down here?"

"Well, John's going to be coming down here soon, maybe you guys can talk."

"That weird bald guy? He's weird."

Jack just shook his head and smiled, as he left with Kate, and headed back to the beach.

They were walking through the jungle together, just listening to each other breathe. Jack wasn't sure if he should tell Kate that Haley's seizers had stopped after the crash. But then again, why couldn't he tell her? What was the big deal?

"You know, Haley hasn't needed her medication this whole time."

Kate looked at him, confused. "What do you mean?"

"After the crash, her seizers went away. So she wasn't worried when her meds were missing."

"They just stopped? After the crash?"

"That's what she says."

"And now… They're just starting again?"

"Ya."

"That's weird."

"There's something going on here, on this island, and no one can deny it anymore," John Locke said, as he was walking up to them on his way to the hatch.

"There's nothing going on."

"How else can you explain her seizers going away after the crash?"

"I can't. But no one can. OK?"

"Maybe we can't explain it. But we know there's something here. Something on this island that is changing people."

"Maybe you should get to the hatch, John."

John walked passed him, without saying another word. How could Jack not believe something was going on? Well, he knew that Jack believed, he just didn't want to admit it.

"We need the medication. It's hers and she needs it. She's gonna hurt herself if she doesn't get the meds," Jack was saying to Sawyer.

"How is she going to hurt herself?"

"Well like today, she had a seizer and hit her head on a rock. What if next time, she's swimming in the ocean and drowns?"

"Then tell her not to go swimming."

"Sawyer, I'm serious."

"So am I."

"Look, she needs her meds. They're hers, so she needs them back," Kate stepped in.

"And what if I don't have them?"

"At least take a look," Jack said.

"Fine. What's it called?"

"Tegratol."

"And the name on the bottle?"

"Haley something."

Sawyer got up and walked over to his camp. He rustled through his stash of stuff, but didn't really look at any labels. He walked back over to them and shook his head.

"How hard did you look, Sawyer?" Jack questioned.

"Why don't you get this Haley girl to come get them herself? How do I know you're not lying just to get some more stuff without playing in a game of poker?"

"Fine, let's play poker for it."

"I'm not playing poker with you. You tell Haley to come here and tell me she needs these meds. Then I might hand them over."

"You're unbelievable, you know that?" Jack let out a sigh and turned around. Kate stood looking at Sawyer, with her hands on her hips.

"I heard you were running around the jungle in nothing but a bra."

"Screw you." She took her hands off her hips, and ran after Jack.

Haley looked around the room in amazement. What was a place like doing in the middle of a deserted island? And why hadn't more of the people there, been in it? She got off the bed and walked into the kitchen. It was like a real kitchen, with a table and a window and cupboards and everything. "This is crazy," She said to herself. There was even a living room with couches. "I wonder if they have a washroom in this place." She became even more curious and started opening all the cupboards. Boxes of cereal, cookies, peanut butter, even chocolate bars. But they all had the same weird symbol on them. Haley knew there was food like this before, but she didn't want to eat it and then remember how good real food tasted, just before running out. But here the food was, right in front of her. She grabbed one of the chocolate bars, which was Nuget almond caramel. Sounded tastey. She ripped the wrapper open, and took a bite. Mmm, was it ever good. She downed in about 45 seconds. She threw the wrapper on the counter and opened more cupboards. The last cupboard she opened, she found a bunch of bottles of alcohol. "ooh." She sat down on the floor and looked at them all. "Where did these come from?" She grabbed a bottle of vodka, and popped the top off.

Jack and Kate got back to the hatch and said hello to Locke, who was reading at the computer. They walked into the house section to get Haley, but found her giggling on the kitchen floor. What's she doing? Jack thought. But then Kate saw it. The open bottle of vodka, sitting on the counter.

"Haley, if you don't stay in bed, you could get hurt."

"Ya, but that's boring," Haley said, with a slur.

"Please tell me you're not drunk."

"Ok. I'm not drunk." She sat up and looked at them. She was trying not to smile, but couldn't hold it back. She started to laugh. "You guys believed me, didn't you?"

"Ok, Haley, just go back to the bunk beds, and I'll get you some water and food."

"No, no, it's ok. Nahh, I'll just stay here." She stood on her feet and stumbled, but grabbed onto the counter. "That was close!"

"Ok, no. You have to get something else into your system."

"Ok, how bout some gin? Even though that crap tastes like perfume." She reached out for the bottle of vodka, but Kate grabbed it first. "Hey!"

"Haley, where did you get this?"

"The cupboard."

Jack picked up the lid for it, off the floor, and twisted it back on the bottle. "Why would there be alcohol in here?"

"Ok, guys, look. I'm sorry. I'm sorry that I drank the vodka. But it was just sittin there, not gettin drunk by anyone. So I just… I drank some."

"Ok, you need to go lay down. You drank a lot."

"Nah. I'll be fine."

"Then walk in a straight line over to the table."

"Ok. If you say so." Haley took a few steps forward, but lost her balance not even halfway there, and fell to the floor. She laughed and got up. "Ok, that was bad."

"No, you need to lay down." Jack grabbed onto her arms and walked her back to the bunk beds. He looked over at Kate. "It's getting dark anyway, we can just wait until morning."

"What were you going to do?"

"Well, _you_ were going to talk to Sawyer so he would give you your meds."

"Oh, ok, let's go!"

"No. You can't even walk."

"I can too! That's not fair! I can… I can do everything else. I can touch my nose!" She stuck her finger out and touched her cheek. "Dammit. I'm really drunk. Like, ya. I'm so drunk."

"Ya. You are."

"I'm gonna be so sick tomorrow."

Kate brought a bottle of water over for Haley, and sat on the edge of the bed. "Here you go."

"Nah, no, we'll go see Sawyer. We can go see Sawyer! I'm fine!"

"Haley, you just said yourself that you were too drunk."

"No, I said that I was really drunk. There's a difference. I can go! Ya, let's go!"

"No, you're not going anywhere. And plus, if people see that you're drunk, they're gonna be swarming this place looking for their own alcohol."

"Well being drunk is no fun if I'm just lying here."

"I don't care." He stood up from kneeling on the floor. "Drink your water. I'll get you some food."

"Kate," Haley whispered.

Kate leaned in a little, to hear.

"Jack is hot."

All Kate could do was laugh.

"Like really. I just wanna… squeeze his ass."

"Maybe you should."

"I can't, I have a boyfriend. But he's all the way in Canada." She whispered the next part. "In BC."

"Oh?"

"Ya. I live there too. But not anymore! Now I live on … an island!"

"Ya me too."

"What if my boyfriend is over me by now? What if he moved on?"

"I don't think he would have yet."

"Ya, I mean the thinks I'm dead. So he has to be sad still." She let out a sigh. "Ooooh noooo I'm all dizzy now!" She rolled over and wrapped her arms around herself.


	4. Chapter 4

Haley woke up in the morning, with the biggest of headaches. She felt like she was going to die. And puke. She hardly even lifted her head, before throwing up in a bucket that was sitting on the floor. Someone must have been thinking of her. Jack walked in with a water bottle, and a cloth. He handed her the bottle so she nodded and said thanks. After she took a few sips, he poured some water onto the cloth and put it on Haley's forehead, and sat on the edge of the bed.

"How are you feeling?"

"Like crap. And a moron."

"A moron?"

"Ya. Ugh, I was such a loser last night. I don't even know… Why I did that."

"We all have our off days."

"Where we get drunk off half a bottle of vodka, alone?"

"Some of us."

"Before you're old enough to even_ be_ drinking?"

"Hey, we're on an island. There is no drinking age here."

"But… That's not like me. I just… I was looking around, and I ate a chocolate bar, and then I saw the alcohol, and I don't know. I don't know what happened."

"Hey, it's ok. Don't worry about it. When you're feeling up to it, I'll go with you, to talk to Sawyer."

"Ya. Right now that feels like it won't be till next week."

Jack took his hand off the cloth on Haley's head, and stood up. "Drink some more water."

Haley watched as he walked around the corner and out of sight. She let out a sigh and drank the rest of the water in one go.

Kate was heading to the hatch to see Jack, but she saw him in the jungle, before she arrived. "Jack?" She said. He looked over at her. "How's Haley?"

"Hung over. Don't give her any sympathy, she did this to herself."  
"Jack?"

"What?"

"Nevermind." She turned around and headed back to the beach. She was mad at Jack, but she didn't even know why. She just wanted a reason to scream at him, but she didn't have one. She was just upset because she hadn't been a part of "the group" lately. Maybe that's what was bothering her. Maybe she was upset that she hadn't been around Jack as much as she used to. The fact that Jack didn't even want her to be a part of anything. "No, you know what?" Jack just looked at her without saying anything. "I am going to go give Haley some company. Because you aren't the boss around here. I'm not taking any more of your crap."

"What crap?"

"The crap about you thinking you can tell me what I'm allowed to do and what I'm not allowed to do."

"What are you talking about, Kate?"

"Like all these searches and expeditions you always go on, and you just tell me I'm not coming."

"Ya, and what happened the last time you came anyway? Huh?"

Kate didn't answer him.

"That's right."

"What's gotten into you? You're like… this whole different person."

"We've been here for two and half months, Kate. You don't know me."

"Only because you never let me," Kate hissed, as she walked away. Jack watched her leave, and then went back to the hatch.

Haley woke up when Jack walked into the room. Her head was pounding, but her wound on the side of her head was just piercing. Jack was holding a cup out to her.

"What is it?"

"An herbal remedy that Sun made. It will help."

"Thanks." Haley took a sip and cringed at the bitter taste. She took another sip, and started to gag, but stopped herself from throwing up. "Ugh, I hate tasting things when I'm hung over."

"Ya. Drink it."

"I … I didn't mean to get drunk."

"I know."

"Then why are you talking to me like this is my fault?"

"Well, because it is."

"It's not my fault I was in a plane crash. It's not my fault that I'm the only one my age, here. It's not my fault my boyfriend is at home, probably sleeping with some new girl, and it's not my fault that I haven't really made any friends since I got here. It's not my fault that -"

Jack interrupted her. "Listen to me. Everyone is in the same situation as you are. Ok, we're not all having seizers and hitting our heads on rocks, but we are all in the same boat as you. All of us have lives back home that we're never going to be able to have again."

"You think we'll never get rescued?"

"If there's a balloon dropping food off for us, I don't think they're going to take us home."

"I just… I needed to get away. From all this. Don't you ever feel like you just want to get away?"

"Ya." There was an awkward pause for about a minute, before Jack started talking again. "So we should go get your meds from Sawyer."

Jack and Haley were walking through the jungle on their way to talk to Sawyer. They passed Hurley on the way, who was getting papayas.

"Oh hey, it's you guys," He said. "How's your head?"

"Oh. It's uh… It's pretty soar."

"Ya, that sucks, dude."

"Thanks for bringing her to me, Hurley," Jack stepped in.

"Oh, you brought me to him?" Haley asked.

"Ya man, you hit your head on a rock and you started shaking like mad. And you were bleedin. I had to do something." He held out the fruit he had in his left hand. "Papaya?"

"Nah, I'm good, thanks." She smiled, and her and Jack continued on their way.

"So you're the one who needs the meds," Sawyer said with his usual smirk.

"Yes. So can I have them?"

"And why do you need them, exactly?"

"Sawyer, just give them to her," Jack said.

"Hey, I'm talking to Haley. Not Jack."

"I need them to control my seizers. I have epilepsy, and without my meds I have like 8 seizers a day."

"Why didn't you need your stuff before?"

"I dunno, I just didn't. But now I do. So can I have them?"

"How do I know you're not just one of those "others"," he made air quotes with his fingers.

"Because I was sitting behind you on the plane."

"No you weren't."

"Yes I was. You went to the bathroom four times before the turbulence started."

"Heh. I was drinking a lot of water."

"Whatever. It's not important. Can I have my meds please?"

"Fine." He stood up to go to his stash, but that's when Haley got a blank look on her face and stared into space. "What's she doing?"

"Haley?" Jack asked. Haley didn't answer, she just fell back and then started to shake. Jack caught her out of reflex and layed her gently on the sand.

"Whoa!" Sawyer had never seen someone have a seizer before.

"Ya! So go get her meds!" Sawyer watched her shake uncontrollably, as Jack kneeled next her with his hands lighty on her head and one of her arms. "Now, Sawyer!"

Sawyer ran back to his camp and started throwing medication bottles around, looking for the one with her name on it. He finally found a bottle with white tablets inside. The name on it was Haley Walker. He grabbed it and ran back to the tree he was at with Jack and Haley. Haley was now sitting up in the sand with Jack standing next to her.

"Are you ok?" Sawyer asked, handing her the bottle.

"Ya." She took it and looked at the label. "Thanks."

"Don't mention it."

"You don't like him very much, do you?" Haley asked Jack, as they were heading back to the hatch.

"We have our differences."

"You don't like him. I think he's pretty hot."

"Yes, well there is a difference between good looks and a good attitude."

"Ya. So what's going on with you and Kate?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well what's going on? You guys have a thing for each other, don't you?"

"I don't want to talk about it."

"Why not?"

"Because there's nothing to talk about."

"Nice try. If there wasn't something to talk about, then you wouldn't have said you didn't want to talk about it. Because there would be nothing for you to not want to talk about. If there was nothing to talk about, you would have just said there was nothing going on."

"Ya, well Kate is kind of…" He kind of trailed off and tilted his head.

"Ever think you're kind of…" She did the same head tilt. "As well?"

Jack didn't answer.

"Hey, at least you _can_ have a thing with someone. I was kind of eyeing Boone for a while… but… he died. And now everyone's like at least 30."

"Ya, let's not talk about Boone."

"Oh. Ok."

"Listen, I should change your bandages when we get back, so why don't you have a shower, and then I'll do that for you."

"Did you say shower?"


	5. Chapter 5

Haley opened the creeky door to reveal a dark and drippy room with a rusty toilet and small crusty shower stall. It was like she was in heaven. She could hear the hallelujah Course coming from all corners of the hatch. This was the most amazing thing she had seen in over two months. Just fabulous.

She got out of the shower feeling like the most refreshed person on earth. No one could stand taller than she was, at that very moment. Haley Walker, had just had a shower.

"This shower thing… Has to stay a secret," Haley said, sitting down at the kitchen table. Jack just smiled and dabbed her wound with peroxide. "Ah, that stings."

"Sorry."

He started taping new bandages over her cut. Haley watched his face as he worked. It was like everything else in the world was a important as a pea, when he was doing his job. Even when he wasn't getting paid for it. Even when he had to treat a drunk 18 year old. And a hung over 18 year old. It just seemed like he was meant to be a doctor and he was meant to be on that flight for everyone else. So he could take some control of everyone else on the island and create a little structure. He was good at that. And even though it didn't show in his tone or his words all the time, he was good at caring.

"Dammit, I have a song stuck in my head," Haley said, to break the silence.

"What song?"

"Oh you might not know it. It's by some British band, they didn't really hit it big in the States or Canada or anything. Have you heard of Drive Shaft?"

"Drive Shaft?"

"Never heard of them?"

"No, I've heard of them. The bass player's on the island." He finished putting new gauze over her stitches.

"Charlie Pace is on the island?"

"Ya."

"This island?"

"Yes."

"Where is he?"

"I don't know."

"Well can I talk to him? Drive Shaft was awesome!"

"See? Good things can happen after a plane crash."

"Ya, like meeting the girl of your dreams and not doing anything about it."

"I don't think… She wants me to do anything about it."

"Why not?"

"Because. She's just… She's Kate, that's all I can say."

"That's all you want to say."

"Ya, to you."

"Whatever. I'm going to go look for Charlie."

Jack left the hatch as soon as Lock arrived, he wanted to talk to Kate. He hadn't _really_ talked to her in a while, and he was really started to get sick of Locke. He passed Charlie and Mr. Ecko on the way to the beach.

"Hey Charlie, someone's looking for you," He said, still walking.

"For me?" He sounded surprised.

"For you."

"Perhaps a secret admirer," Mr. Ecko chipped in.

"I guess you could say that. She's too young for you though." He smiled and continued on his way.

"Wait, Jack! Who is it?" Charlie called after him. Jack didn't answer, he just kept walking. "Jack!"

Jack saw Kate playing Backgammon with Hurley, by the water. He sat down next to them and watched. Finally Hurley caught on that Jack wanted to be alone with Kate.

"Oh, umm, I'm just gonna… ya." Hurley got up and left them to talk.

"Kate, I-" Jack started.

"It's ok," She interrupted. "Really. Everyone here has a reason to be stressed. We all just handle it in different ways."

"Kate, it has nothing to do with stress."

"Then what's it about?"

"You. I thought you knew that."

"What? Like you don't want anything bad to happen to me?"

Jack just sat there and looked at her.

"Oh."

Haley finally found Charlie. Her heart was pounding. Could she really say something to Charlie Pace? _The_ Charlie Pace? Charlie Pace, the bass player from Drive Shaft? She couldn't believe she was actually going to talk to him.  
"Umm, Charlie?" She squeaked. He turned around at the sound of his name, and faced her. "Oh my god, it's you."

"Um, ya." He was a bit confused.

"Drive Shaft is like, my god!"

"Ya! Alright! I'm in Drive Shaft!"

"I know!" She held up a disposable camera. "Can I get a picture?"

"You brought a camera here?"

"I don't know about you, but I wasn't actually planning on _coming_ here. I was traveling… So I brought disposable cameras…"

"Right. I guess I'm kind of losin' it."

"But ya, I only have this one camera, I used all my other ones up in Australia. So I have to take my pictures wisely."

"And I'm a wise choice?"

"You are. You would be my sixth picture from the island."

"You gonna make a scrap book when you get home?"

"Maybe I will." She held up the camera, facing her, and Charlie squeezed in next to her, so they were both in the picture. They both smiled, and she pressed the button.

It seemed like the island had been brought to peace once again. Though it would probably only be for a short time. But that's how the world worked best. Overcoming the obstacle in front of you, before moving onto a new one. The sun was setting, and mostly everyone was on the beach in their own little groups. Jack and Kate were talking again, and Hurley was hanging out on his own, just eating some fruit. Gin and Sun were cuddled up together, and rocking each other. Right where the waves stopped on the sand, was where Charlie and Haley were sitting. She took a picture of the beautiful endless sunset, and smiled her first real smile a long time. She hadn't realized it, but she really needed to look around and see where she was. She hadn't really accepted it before, so she didn't make friends or get involved in anything. But she realized that no matter what's going on, even if it's temporary, it's better to be with friends, and stay occupied.

"Ok, so in the chorus of You All Everybody, you have your fingers up here," Charlie was showing Haley how to play his guitar. Talking to a real fan was awesome for him, and he was bonding with someone who wasn't Claire. Even if it wasn't a love relationship, it was something that made him feel good about himself. Because if you're going to be stuck on a deserted island with nothing else to think about, the worst thing you could do, is not like who you are.


	6. Chapter 6

Jack couldn't find Haley. He needed to clean up her wound, and she knew that he was coming to her camp to do it. But she wasn't there. He was getting annoyed, but tried not to act upon it.

"Hey, Kate, have you seen Haley?" He asked, as she walked by, up ahead.

"No, sorry. Last I saw her, she was with Charlie. But… That was a few hours ago." She started walking closer to him.

"Dammit. I never got to clean it yesterday either, I hope she knows it's gonna get infected."

"I'm sure she does. Jack, don't worry about it."

"I can't. I wouldn't be doing my job if I didn't care."

"But it's not your job, Jack."

"Who else is going to do it?"

"Hey guys, what's going on?" Charlie asked, walking up to them.

"Have you seen Haley?" Jack asked.

"Not for a few hours. Why, where'd she go?"

"I don't know."

"Well I'll help you look for her," Kate suggested.

"Look up in the caves, or on the golf course," Charlie said.

"Do you want to go look around the golf course, while Kate and I go up to the caves?"

"Sure, no problem." Charlie set off, leaving Jack and Kate to go on their walk together.

"I could have gone to the golf course," Kate finally said, when they were in the jungle.

"Charlie can do it."

"But I could have done it."

"What's wrong with Charlie doing it?"

"What's wrong with _me _doing it?"

"What's wrong with just wanting to spend a little time with you?"

Kate didn't say anything, she just smiled and continued walking alongside Jack.

Charlie was wandering around through the golf course, when he heard the distant sound of a scream. He could hear someone crying for help.

"Who is that?" He called. But they didn't answer. "I'm coming!" he yelled, trying desperately to find out where the person was. "Where are you?"

"Over here!" He heard.

"Where's that?"

"Hurry!"

"I'm trying!" He ran around, trying to listen to where the voice was coming from, but it was difficult. But then he saw it. About 50 feet ahead of him and down a little hill, he saw two hands, gripping onto a big weed, growing from the ground. But there were just hands. No body to go along with them. He ran up to it, to see that there was a giant hole in the ground. Haley was inside, holding onto this weed, for fear of falling all the way in. The hole was about 20 feet deep, with spikes made from bamboo, on the bottom. Charlie layed down on his stomach, and grabbed onto Haley's arms. "I'm going to pull you up."

"You can't," She cried.

"What do you mean I can't?"

"Something pulled me down here. It's wrapped around my foot."

"Try to kick it off."

"I have been trying! It won't come off!"

"Well if it was long enough to pull you down, it will be long enough for you to get out, won't it?"

"No! I can't even bend my knee, it's pulling me right now!"

Charlie shoved himself forward, and looked down the hole to see. There something wrapped right around her left foot, and he could see that it was tugging in a downward motion. But the thing he couldn't see, was what it actually was. He saw something black, but that was all. He couldn't describe anything else about it. It was kind of smokey, but it was impossible to be smoke. It wasn't a rope. He didn't know what it could be.

"I'll try anyway! We'll pull against it!"

"You're not playing tug o' war, with me as the rope!" Haley yelled.

"But what if this thing pulls you down?"

"I don't know!"

Charlie didn't care. He tightened his grip around her arms, and pulled as hard as he could. She wouldn't budge.

"Ahh! It's not working!" Haley yelled. "It's too strong!"

"Help!" Charlie called out. "Help!" The both of them just screamed at the top of the lungs, hoping someone else would hear them.


	7. Chapter 7

Kate and Jack were completely alone in the caves. No one lived there anymore, and since Michael's water line from the spring to the beach was still working great, there was no reason to be there. Everyone felt safe on the beach. Jack still preferred the caves, it was much cooler. Kate took off her backpack and set it on the ground at her feet.

"I guess she's not here," She said.

"Ya…" Jack looked around, all the memories of the past months, just flooding back to him. The cave-in, the whole thing with Charlie and Claire… Boone. So many bad things had happened in this place, yet Jack didn't want to leave. It was like a security blanket but he had no idea why.

"I guess we should go then," Kate suggested. "She's probably back at her camp by now, anyway." Kate picked up her backpack and threw it over her shoulder. "You know, sometimes I miss this place."

"You never lived here, Kate."

"So? I was here all the time. Just because I didn't sleep here, and I didn't have my tent set up here, doesn't mean I can't miss it." Kate was saying how she missed the caves, but really what she meant, was how much she had missed Jack. It hurt her so much that he had stopped talking to her, or asking her for help. And when she got to help him again, with Haley, it just made her feel so good again. So alive. She was staring into his blue eyes, trying to figure out what he was thinking. But she didn't need to wonder for long, because Jack stepped in closer to her, and kissed her.

"It's gonna rip my leg off!" Haley screamed.

"No it won't! I won't let it!" Charlie yelled.

"But it will! It's doing it right now!" The thing wrapped around her foot, was pulling so hard, it finally pulled her knee out of the socket. It made a loud popping noise, that the both of them heard. Haley couldn't even scream from the pain, it hurt so much that it took her breath away. Charlie saw the expression on Haley's face, and the tears welling up in her eyes, and knew that that gut-retching sound couldn't have been good. "Are you ok?" He asked, without thinking. Of course she wasn't ok. "Well it has to let go some time!"

"Maybe it's thinking the same thing about us."

"Let go of her, you monster!"

Haley tried prying it off her foot, with her other foot, but all it did was pull on her leg more, and make the thing tighten around her ankle even more.

Kate and Jack finally stopped kissing, and just stared at each other. Neither of them were sure what to do at that point. Kate finally took her arms off from around Jack's neck, and stepped back a bit.

"Maybe we should go," She whispered.

"Ya." Jack didn't want to back away any farther from Kate than he already was, but he knew he had to.

They didn't say anything to each other on their walk back to the beach. But it was when they were about half way there, that they heard the screams.

"Was that Charlie?" Kate asked.

"And Haley." They ran in the direction of the cries for help, and found themselves in the middle of the golf course. Jack saw Charlie lying on his stomach, and grabbing onto something he couldn't see.

"Where's Haley?" Kate asked. They ran towards them, so see Charlie keeping Haley from falling into the hole.

"Something's been trying to pull her in," Charlie explained.

"Just get me out!" Haley screamed.

Kate and Jack both grabbed onto Haley's arms and helped try to pull her out. Haley yelped in pain, but let them all work together in saving her life. But it wasn't working. Whatever was holding onto her ankle, wasn't letting go any time soon.

"It's the security system," Jack said to himself.

"But doesn't that thing make a noise?" Haley asked.

"It has before. But who's to say it always does?" Kate suggested.

"We'll burn it." Jack threw off his shoe, and started pulling the lace out. He found two sticks lying a few feet away, and started tying it to the two ends of one of the sticks. He twisted the lace around the other stick and started pulling the bow he had made, back and forth really fast, until smoke started to appear. Haley watched in amazement, as Kate and Charlie held tight onto her arms. Jack grabbed some grass and threw it on the flame, and they all watched as it got bigger and bigger. Finally, Jack stood up and tossed it down the hole. They all heard a high pitched whimpering for a few seconds, and then it went away.

"It worked," Haley said, feeling the relief around her ankle. The three of them pulled her out of the hole, and let her collapse on the ground. Jack saw her mangled leg, and put his palms on either side of her knee. "Don't touch it," She said.

"Haley, you're knee is dislocated."

"Wonderful. We can just leave it like that, and I just won't walk anywhere."

"Haley…"

"Ugh. Ok, I know, you're a doctor, you want to be the healer."

"I need to be."

"But it's not even hurting that much anymore. I can hardly even feel it. It's pretty numb, I'm good."

"Haley, that's not good. It's probably pinching a nerve or a blood vessel. If we leave it, you're leg might die."

"My _leg_ is going to die?"

Jack looked at her, and once again, Haley saw the pain in his eyes. The pain, but also the want. The want to do good, to help. It just seemed like he wanted to make up for something. Maybe something he did wrong in the past. Like if he helped people here, it would cancel out the other stuff. Haley let out a deep breath and closed her eyes. "Do you're work." She layed her head back onto the ground, and Charlie grabbed on to her hand. She squeezed it as hard as she could, she knew this was going to hurt.

"Kate, can you hold onto her shoulders?" Jack asked.

Kate nodded and took a hold of her. Jack wrapped his hands around her leg and pulled as hard as he could, leaving everyone with nothing but the sound of a loud crack, and Haley's scream.


	8. Chapter 8

Jack carried Haley back to the beach on his back. Haley was exhausted and in so much pain, she just rested her head on his shoulder and closed her eyes. Kate and Charlie walked on either side of Jack, but no one said a word the whole walk there. They were all thinking the same thing, though, and they knew it. They were just afraid to talk about it.

Jack set Haley down at her camp and sat down next to her. They both looked at each other for a minute before Jack said something.

"You want to tell me what happened out there?" He asked.

"Not really." Haley took her right shoe off, to reveal a swollen and bruised ankle. "Maybe if I knew what happened, I could tell you about it. But honestly, I have no idea what that thing was, or why it wanted me. All I know, is that I really didn't want to die. And that is one of the most scariest things that has ever happened to me." She paused and thought for a sec. "You know, besides being in a plane crash." Jack nodded, and just listened. "But even then, I wasn't going to let myself die. I didn't black out, I saw the whole thing happen. I wasn't going to let something like a plane falling out of the sky, end my life. And I'm not going to let it end here, either. I'm 18 years old, Jack. I haven't even gone to college, or moved out on my own. I have had only one boyfriend, who now probably thinks I _am_ dead. I just… You'd think that when someone is being dragged into a 30 foot hole, with spikes at the bottom, and no one around to hear or save you, and no strength to fight back, you'd let yourself go. If someone asked me what I would do in that situation, back home… I would have told them that I would just let go. But today, I didn't once think about letting go." She moved her foot slightly, by accident, and gasped. "Ow."

"It's probably broken," Jack said, taking a closer look at it.

"Wonderful."

"How have your seizers been?"

"I've only had one since I got my meds back."

"Good."

"Jack?"

He looked at her, waiting for her to say what was on her mind.

"Umm… I just… Well since my knee was dislocated, and I have a probably broken ankle, I was wondering if I could hang out in the hatch for a while. Just everything's a lot closer … and stuff. You know, the whole walking thing."

"Ya. That's a good idea. We need to make a splint for your ankle incase it is broken."

"Kay. I'll just lie here while you do that."

Jack laughed a bit, and got up to find some sticks to keep her foot immobile.

"Hey," Kate said, walking up to Jack. "How is she?"

"Soar. But she'll be fine. Shaken up a little bit, you know."

"Ya, of course."

"I'm gonna make her a splint. Her ankle looks like it might be fractured. And then I'm going to take her to the hatch, so she doesn't need to walk around on her leg so much."

"Ya. I can't imagine how soar it must be."

Haley woke up in the bottom bunk in the hatch. The lights were turned off everywhere, and it was so quiet, so still, it was eerie. But then she heard a beeping. Nothing serious sounding, just … Beep… beep… beep… She sat up and grabbed the crutches that were leaning against the wall, and made her way towards the sound. She found herself in a large round room, with nothing in it, but a very old computer sitting right in the middle. John Locke was sitting at the computer, and he was typing something on the keyboard. When he was done, the beeping stopped, and numbers on the wall, flipped so that they would read 108.

She knew what it did; Charlie had told her about it, the other day. But she wanted to hear it from someone else. "What's that for?" She asked.

Locke didn't seem startled at her presence. It was like he knew she was there, even though she hadn't made a sound. "It keeps us alive," He said without turning around.

"What? How?"

"I don't know."

"I know why you like it here so much." That's what made Locke turn around and look at Haley. "I saw you at the airport. At first, I thought it wasn't you. But … It was, wasn't it?"

"What do you mean?"

"You were in a wheelchair." He didn't answer. "Does it ever come back?"

"Does what come back?"

"Don't pretend to be stupid."

"Yes. It has come back."

"Does it make you feel different?"

"Different, how?"

"I dunno, just different." She made her way over closer to him, on her crutches. "Like you can feel something inside of you. Like you've been poisoned. But like, poisoned with hate. And fear. And … Like, someone knows about you and they just like to play games. Like, 'Hey, let's give this thing back to this person just to make them suffer and-'"

"Why are you telling me this?"

"I… I just, I saw you at the airport, in a wheelchair. And now you're here, on an island after a plan crash, running around and killing bore."

"What did the island give back to you?"

"It was more like what it took away. I have epilepsy. And after the crash, my seizers went away, and I didn't even take my medication. But they came back 5 days ago."

"What happened today, on the golf course?"

"I dunno. Some weird thing pulled me into a hole. And then Jack, Charlie and Kate pulled me out."

"But what was it like when this thing was holding onto you?"

"Like the worst fear ever."

"But what were you thinking? The whole time?"

"I was thinking about how I was going to survive."

"And that's why it let go of you."

"No, it let go of me, because Jack set it on fire."

"But do you ever think it knew Jack would come and set it on fire?"

"What do you mean?"

"This island is more than just an island. It has a mind of its own. It's deciding the path each of our lives are going to take. But it wants us to believe."

"In what?"

"I'm not sure yet. But there's something going on here. Something not all of us are supposed to be a part of."

"Well I'll agree with you about the fact that there's something going on. Because I know that my seizers stopped, and I felt different. I felt … alive. But now that they're back, it's like everything has been taken away from me. And it feels 100 times worse than it was before."

"You should probably get some sleep. You've had a rough day."

"I _was_ sleeping." She looked at the computer, and how Locke was looking at it. Like was trying to read its mind. "How do you know this computer from the 80's is keeping us alive?"

"I just know."

"But how? Did you actually see it do something besides the numbers recounting?"

"No. But who am I to put everyone danger?"

"Danger from what? How do you know something bad is gonna happen if you don't type in those numbers?"

"Desmond said-"

"I heard about that guy. I also heard from Charlie that this whole thing is a science experiment. Scientists stuck people under ground, away from civilization and told them to press a button. To see if they actually would, and see if the stress of it all would have any effect on them."

"Not necessarily."

"Maybe I will go to bed."

"I thought you of all people would be on my side."

"On you're _side? _Why?"

"The island fixed you. Like it fixed me. There's more to this island than just a silly science experiment."

"The island didn't fix me. It teased me." Haley turned around and hobbled on the crutches, back to the bunk bed. She layed down on top of the covers and just stared at the bottom of the top bunk. But she didn't fall asleep. She couldn't stop thinking. This whole thing was just getting crazier and crazier. How could all of this stuff be going on, on an island? Weird houses under ground with windows and fake sunlight, science experiments, buttons that saved the world, monsters that ate people…

Haley woke up in the morning with Jack sitting next to her on the bed.

"You're forehead is healing up nicely," He said.

"Great."

"I just thought I'd come check on you."

"Ya… Are you sure that thing yesterday, is the same thing that's been knocking down trees in the jungle?"

"I'm not sure of anything around here."

"Mr. Locke seems to be."

"Sometimes that's not such a good thing."

"He thinks the computer is saving the world."

"How's your knee and ankle?"

"Nice way to change the subject… My knee's not too bad, but my ankle hurts like hell."

Jack unwrapped the bandage from around the splint on her ankle. It was all black and purple, and so swollen that it wasn't even shaped like a foot anymore. Jack made a face and sucked in some air, showing the pain he knew she must be in.

"Dude, that's gross," Hurley said, walking in the room. Jack and Haley looked up at him, but didn't say hello.

"It hurts more than it looks."

"What are you guys going to do about it?"

"Well there's not much we _can_ do," Jack started to explain. "The bone isn't out of place, it's probably just a hairline fracture or something. But in order for it to heal, you're gonna have to keep the splint on it and stay off it completely."

"How long will that take?" Haley asked.

"About 6 weeks."

"Whoa, that sucks," Hurley said.

Haley looked at him. "Thanks. Maybe we can break your foot and you can do it with me."

Hurley laughed a bit. "No thanks. I just came to take over for Locke." He smiled and headed to the room with the computer.

Jack watched him walk away, and then turned back to Haley. "I wish we had something better than sticks to hold your foot still."

"Like what?"

"Well like fibre glass or plaster to make a real cast would be great. But it's not like we have any of that here. You just can't move around."

"This is the shits."

Claire was rocking Aaron in his crib, to help him fall asleep. The look on her face, the look of love for a child, was just amazing. The way she rocked him, the way she picked him up, it was just all so sweet, so gentle. The way only a mother could do it. Charlie noticed this about her. He watched her all the time. She never knew he was watching her; if she did, she would have told him to leave. He was so hurt by their falling out, and it was all his fault. Why couldn't he have just told her the truth? Why couldn't he have told her that there was heroin stashed inside that Mary statue? He still could have said that he wasn't going to use it, he just wanted it there, like a security blanket. That would still be telling the truth, and maybe she would have understood then. But after lying about it, it made it seem like he had something to hide. Why was he so stupid? He needed to talk to her. He stood up and slowly walked towards her. She looked up at him, and her entire expression changed from love, to hate.

"Go away, Charlie," She demanded.

"Claire, can we just talk?"

"No."

"Why can't you let me explain? I didn't do anything!"

"It's not that you did something, Charlie. It's that you lied. And about something as serious as drugs! Why didn't you just tell me?"

"Because I didn't know how you would react. I just… I wasn't going to use any of if… I just-"

"Get away from us, Charlie."

"Claire…"

"Now."

He let out a sigh of disappointment and walked away.

Hurley knew that he shouldn't have been doing what he was doing. All he was supposed to be doing was sitting at the computer and waiting for the numbers to count down… so he could type the same numbers on the keyboard, that ruined his life. Kind of ironic, he thought. Now they're apparently saving his life.

"4, 8, 15, 16, 23, 44," he whispered to himself, over and over again. He was moving things around on the shelves, trying to find some cupcakes. He knew he had seen some before. Maybe someone finished them off. Probably him without even remembering. He accidentally made a giant Costco sized box of Macaroni and Cheese, fall to the floor. He bent down to pick it up, and saw what it was sitting on. A door in the floor, with a red cross on it. He moved the Mac and Cheese and opened the door, peering inside. "Whoa."


	9. Chapter 9

Hahahaha ok, so ya I realize that in the last chapter, I put the numbers as 4 8 15 16 23 44… I have no idea why I did that. I have always known that the last number is 42. I just… was not thinking clearly. Silly me. So just pretend that the number 42 was there, instead of 44. hahaha. Ok back to the story

Jack was sitting on the beach with Kate. They were both just letting the waves come in and get their butts wet. At first, they laughed and tensed up when a wave crawled under them, but by now, they were both used to it. Neither of them were saying anything. Seemed like they both liked silence every once in a while. But that silence was soon broken, when Hurley came running from behind them, screaming, "Jack! Jack! Jack!"

"What?" He said, turning around.

"You have to come see this."

"What is it, Hurley?" Jack asked.

"I can't tell you… You have to come see. Incase someone hears." Hurley looked over at Sawyer, who was leaning against a tree, taking a nap.

"It's full of first aid stuff. The thing is huge," Hurley said, opening the latch in the floor. "I guess they thought the people staying here had a chance of gettin' hurt real bad."

"Or sick," Kate suggested, thinking of what Rousseau had told them about her group.

"It's all stuff like peroxide and rubbing alcohol. But there's also vaccines of some sort, gauze, sewing stuff. I'm assuming it's the real stuff." Hurley said.

Jack jumped into the hole and saw that it went up to his shoulder. He bent down and looked along the hole. His jaw dropped open and he stood up, looking at the others. "It's a tunnel," He said.

"What do you mean, a tunnel?" Kate asked.

"I mean it's a tunnel. It's leading somewhere. I'll bet you all this first aid stuff if just here as a cover up. So the people staying here wouldn't know that there was a tunnel in here."

"But if someone needed something from in here, they would have easily seen it leading somewhere."

"Not if it used to be blocked off." Jack nodded his head towards a large square piece of wood, lying on the floor, as if it had been knocked over.

"Well should we see where it leads to?" Hurley asked.

"Maybe it leads to another hatch," Kate though aloud.

"What, like a hatch where the others are living?"

"Maybe. What if this leads us to Walt?"

"I guess it wouldn't hurt if I went and checked it out," Jack stepped up.

"Well you're not going without me," Kate protested.

"Yes I am."

"Jack-"

"I'm not arguing with you, Kate. You wanna help? Go find me a flashlight."

Kate just turned around and left the room. She thought Jack was done the whole telling her what to do. At that moment, she felt smaller than ever.

Kate was walking along the beach in her bare feet. Sawyer was awake by this point, and was eyeing her. She pretended not to notice. She just needed some time to herself to think. Did she really want to go any further with Jack?

"Where are you going, Freckles?" Sawyer finally called out.

"Nowhere, I'm just walking."

Jack pulled himself out of the hole in the floor, wondering where Kate went. "Kate?" He walked out into the rest of the hatch and saw Hurley at the computer. "Where's Kate?"

"Oh, she left."

"What where did she go?"

Hurley shrugged his shoulders, and rested his chin in his hands.

Once Jack found a flashlight, he jumped back into the first aid hole and crouched down so that he could walk along the tunnel. As he walked more and more, he realized the floor was slanting down, like a wheelchair ramp. After about five minutes of walking slowly and quietly, there was enough room for Jack to stand up straight. So far, it was just a very long, very dark and very empty tunnel. He could hear the waves crashing on the beach, and the echoing of his foot steps. He stopped walking when he came across something that made him think for a minute. The tunnel went two ways. He looked to the left, and pointed the flashlight down the long path. He couldn't see the end. He pointed the flashlight in front of him, and couldn't see the end of that one either. He had to make a decision. He took a deep breath and continued going straight.

"Jack?" Haley called out. She waited a minute, and called his name again, after there was no answer. He still didn't come. Where was he? "Jack?"

"Uh, he left," Hurley yelled from in the dome.

"Where'd he go?"

The beeping started coming from the computer, so Hurley quickly typed in the numbers and went to talk to Haley. "He went down the tunnel."

"The tunnel?"

"Oh ya. We forgot to tell you. There was this door in the floor, over in the storage room. And there was a bunch of rubbing alcohol and gauze and stuff, but it was also a tunnel. He went to see where it lead to."

"Oh. Well I kind of need him."

"What for?"

"To look at this." Haley lifted up her pant leg showing that the bruising and swelling had gone all the way up to her knee. It was dark blue and purple, and so swollen that her pants were beginning to cut off her blood circulation to her lower leg.

"Oh." Hurley had do idea what he was supposed to do. "Uhhh… Maybe if I yell into the tunnel, he'll be able to hear me." He ran into the storage room and bent down, leaning into the open hole. "JACK!" He called. "Jack, can you hear me?" Nothing but the echo of his own voice.

Jack finally came to a dead end. He pressed his hands up against the wall, but only felt concrete. There was nothing. No windows, no doors, no secret passage ways, nothing. Until he looked up. He looked up to see a door in the ceiling. Where did it lead? Would it bring him to another hatch, and bring him to meet the bearded guy? Would he find Walt or Michael? Or the children from the tail of the plane? He lifted his arms up above his head and pushed on the door to open it. Nothing. It wouldn't budge. He pushed harder, but it must have been locked from the other side. He turned around and headed back the other way. He was going to see what was down the tunnel where it branched off.

Only 15 minutes had past, and Haley now had bruising and swelling all the way up to her hip. They had to cut the seem of her right pant leg so that it didn't cut off her circulation.

"Well like, does it hurt?" Hurley asked.

"Ya. But what is it?"

"I don't know, I'm not the doctor."

That's when Kate walked in the room, with a flashlight and her backpack. Looked like she was going in the tunnel anyway. "What's going on?" She asked, when she ay Haley's leg.

"I don't know," Haley said. "The bruising just started to spread. It hurts like a mofo."

"We need Jack," Hurley added.

Kate lowered herself into the hatch inside the hatch, and shone her flashlight ahead of her. "Jack?" She called out. She walked along the tunnel hoping to see him before she saw anyone or anything else. The first time she looked behind her, she couldn't even see the wall from under the storage room. She was far enough in, that if something happened to her, no one would hear her cries for help.

Jack was finally coming to the end. He could see light up ahead, flooding into the tunnel. He turned off his flashlight and slowly inched forward, afraid of what he would find. Ad he got closer to the end, it became more and more clear what was there. He wasn't sure at first, but after seeing up close, he knew what he was looking at.


	10. Chapter 10

Jack held out his hand and lightly touched one of the spikes with the tips of his fingers. He leaned forward and looked up to the open sky. He looked ahead of him again, and counted the spikes. 16. They were placed equal distances apart, in the shape of a square. The concrete went completely around the bottoms of the spikes, like the spikes were there first, and then the concrete was poured after. He wondered how long they had been there for. The hole was definitely new; he had never seen if before. Maybe it was just covered up until now. Jack just had to stop thinking about all of this; it was making his brain hurt. He finally turned around, only to find himself face to face with Kate.

"What are you doing here?" He asked.

"Same thing you are. Only you need to go back."

"Why?"

"There's something wrong with Haley. Her entire leg is bruised and swollen. It's spreading really fast."

"Ok, well I'm on my way back, anyway. There's nothing down here."

"Well there has to be something. Why would someone build a tunnel and not have it lead anywhere?"

"I don't know."

Kate stood on her toes and leaned to the right to try and see past Jack. Jack moved to his left so she couldn't see anything.

"Jack! There's something there!"

"No there isn't."

Kate tried to squeeze past him, but he put his arm up to stop her. She managed to catch a glimpse of what was there, and gasped.

"That's where Haley was being pulled into!" She stepped back and let out a deep breath. "This doesn't make any sense."

"That's why we're going to go back and close that door in the floor of the storage room, and never come back in here."

"But wait, it went another way. The tunnel, it branched off."

"There's nothing down there, I looked."

"How do I know you're not lying?" Kate put her hands on her hips.

"There's nothing there, Kate. Are you coming back with me, or not?"

"You mean you're not going to tell me I'm not allowed to go check it out?"

"You never listen to me anyway. But just remember. I have made good calls in the past."

"When have you made good calls?"

"How about with the dynamite, Kate? If I hadn't put it in my pack, you would be dead. You would be just like Arnst, and we wouldn't be having this conversation. Would we?"

Kate didn't say anything.

"That's what I thought. Come on." Jack shoved past her, and headed back, not even waiting for Kate to turn around and go, too. She stood there, staring at the spikes that almost killed a teenager just the day before. She was staring at the spikes, but she was thinking about the tone Jack had in his voice. He didn't sound angry. He didn't sound frustrated, he sounded worried. Like him having to think about what could have happened to her, made him feel terrified. She finally turned around and started running to catch up with Jack.

Jack and Kate showed up to see what was wrong with Haley. She was lying in a ball facing the wall, with Hurley sitting on the floor next to the bed.

"What's wrong?" Jack asked.

"Help," Haley said, quietly.

"Can you sit up?" Jack set next to her on the bed. Haley just shook her head.

"It's really bad," Hurley whispered. "Whatever it is… It's bad."

Jack put his hand on her shoulder and pulled her so that she was lying on her back. She let out a wimper of pain, but cooperated. Jack tried not to make a face, when he saw her leg. It was such a dark purple, it was almost black.

"It's all over her stomach, too," Hurley informed.

Jack lifted up part of her shirt, and sure enough, from her hips to half way up her ribs, was all dark purple. He touched it with the palm of his hand, and felt how cold it was.

"I uh… I have no idea what this is from," He said quietly.

"You mean… you can't…" Haley couldn't get the rest of her words out. She coughed and curled back up into a ball.

"What if it's from the thing that was pulling her into that hole?" Hurley said.

"What if she… What if there really is a sickness?" Kate asked.

"And you think she has it?" Jack said, with a hint of skepticism in his voice.

"Well you said you don't know what it's from. What else would it be?"

"Fine. You go back in the storage room and see what those vials say on them."

Kate rushed back to the storage room and pulled open the latch in the floor. There were two different labels on the vials. There was one with the dharma symbol on it, and the word Morphine. The other one had the dharma symbol, and it read: "Use only in emergency." Only the liquid inside wasn't clear, like other things of the sort. She shook the bottle and felt the serum slosh almost like syrup. It was a pale yellow colour, and lightly glowed. Kate's eyes went wide and she let out a quiet gasp, but she grabbed them both, along with two syringes, and headed back to the bunk bed. She handed them to Jack, and he looked at the one that made Kate's eyes widen.

"Use only in emergency?" He asked.

"Like what kind of emergency?" Hurley wondered.

"It doesn't even say what's in it. I'm not giving it to her."

"Jack, it could save her life."

"Or it could kill her. I'm not giving it to her." He looked at the morphine bottle and thought for a minute. Then he took one of the syringes out of the package and stuck the needle into the top of the vial.

"Jack, how do you know that's even morphine that's in there? Either way, you don't know for sure what you're giving her."

Jack didn't know what to do. Why was it always him who had to make the decisions? Everyone always turned to him for help. When they wanted an opinion, it was Jack they asked. They always expected him to be in charge, and to know what he was doing. Like it was his job or something. Like the reason he survived the crash, was so he could be everyone's leader. Haley turned around and faced everyone, but stayed in a ball with her eyes closed.

"Haley, explain to me what it feels like," Jack said calmly.

Haley just squeezed her eyes tighter and started to cry. Jack rubbed her back and quietly shushed her. "It's ok." He looked back to Hurley and Kate. "What am I supposed to do?" That's when Haley sat up in a jolt, and started coughing, making blood spurt out of her mouth, and hit Jack on the chest. "Wonderful. She's bleeding internally." When she was done, she laid back down and curled up again. "There's nothing I can do," He whispered. "She needs surgery."

"Then give her surgery. You have morphine."

"No. It'll be too painful. And then it'll get infected. It'll get so infected that she'll die anyway."

"I'm not dying," Haley choked. "I can't… Not yet."

Hurley, now completely white, got up and left the room. If he saw anymore, he would pass out. Kate got up and grabbed a cloth to wipe the blood away from Haley's mouth.

"Haley, listen to me," Jack whispered. "In the medical stash we found… there are some bottles of morphine. And there are also some unlabeled bottles. It's from this Dharma initiative thing, and it says on it to use in an emergency. Do you want me to give you any of these?"

She didn't answer.

"Haley."

She nodded her head yes.

"Hunny, do you want the morphine or the other stuff?" Kate stepped in.

"Let's try the other stuff," She said quietly.

Jack drew out a bit of the serum into the syringe, while Kate held onto Haley's hand.

Haley was afraid. She had no idea what was going to happen to her. She had no idea what _was_ happening to her. Her whole mind was just swimming of thoughts. Thoughts from the past, her favourite memories, what she always wanted to do, everything was just flooding in and out of her brain like a movie. She felt the prick of the needle go into her arm but she didn't look. She waited to feel the sting of the … whatever it was, go through her veins. She felt her body start to slowly calm. Then she looked up at Kate and Jack, who both had a look of worry upon their faces.

"I was… I was traveling alone," Haley said, softly.

Kate looked into her eyes. "What?"

"In Australia. I was just traveling on my own. My mom always wanted to go to Australia. And she… she died last year, and I took some time off school and I graduated a semester late. And then … after graduation, I decided to do what my mom never got to. And take pictures and make a scrap book…"

"Why were you going to LA? Don't you live in BC?" Kate asked.

"I was going to visit my grandma on the way back. She gets lonely."

"Why are you telling us this?" Jack asked.

Haley shrugged. "I just needed someone to know."

Jack was typing the numbers into the computer, when Kate walked up behind him.

"Hey," She said.

"Hey. How's she doing?" Jack asked, without turning around.

"She's sleeping. But the bruising is still there."

"Does she seem to be in any pain?"

"Not as much, at least."

"That's good… I hope."

"Jack…"

He looked at her and waited for her to continue.

"This whole thing, with you telling me what to do… it has to stop. I don't care if you're worried about me, but I'm going to do what I want. If I feel like helping out in any way, I'm going to do it. I don't want to be left behind just because some guy doesn't want me getting hurt. I can handle myself." Jack tried to speak, but Kate held up her hand, and he stopped. "And I know you have some reasons that prove otherwise… But I don't want to live my life knowing I didn't try. I wouldn't want to be in Haley's situation, and die, thinking maybe that serum could have saved my life. I don't want to be like her mom, and die before I get a chance to do what I've always dreamed of. Here I don't really have any dreams. Except to help or be a part of what's going on. Or have something to do, at least." She felt her eyes start to get teary, and she turned away so Jack wouldn't see her crying. But he already knew. He got up from his chair and put his arms around her. She grabbed onto him, and they just stood there, holding each other and keeping each other safe.

"It was pretty gross, man," Hurley said to Charlie, handing him a playing card.

"Well how gross was it? What did it look like?"

"It was just all … purple and swollen so mad. And then she coughed up blood."

"Well is she ok?"

"I don't know. I had to leave."

"Maybe we should go see if she's ok."

"Ya ok, after we finish this."

"Ya sure."

Hurley looked at his cards and thought for a minute. "You got any 4's?"

Hurley and Charlie walked into the hatch, to see Jack sitting on the bed next to Haley, rubbing her arms and her back. She was shivering uncontrollably. It was like she had just come inside from being in 50 below temperatures. She had her eyes shut tightly, and her lips were dark blue.

"What's wrong?" Charlie asked.

"I don't know," Jack said truthfully. That's when Kate came with the extra blankets and threw them on top of Haley.

"Is she going to be ok?" Hurley asked.

"I don't know," Jack said again.

"Well is there anything we can do to help?" Charlie asked.

"I don't know! Just… Leave, please." Jack was so frustrated, everything was getting on his nerves. Charlie and Hurley slowly turned around, but Kate stayed and stood next to Jack. He looked up at her with teary eyes. "You too, Kate." She crossed her arms, and stormed out of the room. Jack looked back and Haley and started rubbing her back again. "It's ok. It's ok." … He hoped.

When she finally stopped shivering, she threw the blankets off her and started sweating.

"Holy, I'm so hot," She said. The sweat was dripping off her face, and her clothes became soaked, very quickly. "Holy crap." She sat up, and pulled her shirt off, not caring that Jack was there to see her in her bra. It wasn't any different from a bikini top, anyway. She fanned her face with her hands and layed back down. "This stuff is intense. Is it supposed to do this?"

"I … I don't know." It was really bothering Jack how much he didn't know. That seemed to be his answer to every question, lately.

"I just… This is so weird. I just feel like…" She suddenly went pale, and started gagging. She was going to throw up. Jack jumped to his feet and grabbed the garbage pail before she could puke all over the floor. It was really coming out very powerfully.

"Do you feel better now?" Jack asked, when she finally stopped.

She shook her head, and collapsed onto the pillow. Jack wasn't sure if everything that was happening to her, was good or bad. He had no idea what he injected into her veins, and neither did anyone else. No one knew what to expect, and it was killing him.

Kate took this opportunity to go back into the tunnel and see what was down the way she never got to wander off to. Jack said there was nothing, but she knew he was only saying that so she wouldn't check it out. Now was her chance. She lowered herself into the hole and turned on her flashlight. She walked down the tunnel with her head held high. This time she knew for sure, Jack wasn't going to show up two steps behind her.

She finally got to the end, and was thoroughly disappointed. Nothing. Jack was telling the truth. Nothing but a wall. Unless there was something _in_ the wall. Oh, who was she kidding? Something in the wall? Like what, a secret passage way, when she pulled on a book? She laughed at the thought, and tilted her head back a little. But that's when she saw it. A door in the ceiling. A door… in the ceiling. She stood on her toes and tried to push it open, but it must have been locked. Unless she just simply didn't have enough strength. She needed something long, like a stick. But there were no sticks. She stopped to think for a second, but was soon interrupted when the door opened, and she heard a deep voice that made her entire body shudder.

"Hello Kate."

Haley felt so weak, it was incredible. It felt like she had just run a marathon. It was hard for her to breathe, and she couldn't even hold her head up. Her entire body was shaking like she hadn't eaten for days. Jack handed her a bottle of water, but she couldn't even lift her arm to grab it. Jack went back to the kitchen and came back with a straw in the bottle.

"Jack," Haley started, after she took a few sips. "I'm scared."

"I know. I know."

"I can't die. You can't let me die."

"Haley, I… I'll do everything I can, but-"

"Everything you can, isn't good enough. That's what doctors say to people when they have to tell them their family died. 'We did everything we could,'" She said the last part in a deep voice, imitating a big time doctor. "People don't want to hear they did everything they could. They don't want to hear that someone they love is dead. They don't want to hear, 'Oh, there was too much bleeding, and the damage was too severe,' they don't want to hear how they cut them open and tried god knows what on them. They just…" She couldn't talk anymore, it was too much for her.

"Is this about your mom?" Jack asked.

"It's just not fair."

"Haley, I'm sorry that you lost your mother. And at such a young age. I'm sorry that it's hurt you. But as a doctor, I have to be the one to tell the families that someone they loved has died. And that's not easy. It's not easy at all. And telling them that we did everything we could, tells them that we tried our hardest. That we wanted this person to live, just as much as they did."

"Then…" Haley let out a sigh as a tear rolled down her cheek. "Do everything you can. Please."

"I will."

She closed her eyes, and went to sleep. Hoping it wasn't the last time.


	11. Chapter 11

Haley woke up to see Kate kneeling beside her bed.

"Kate?" She whispered.

"Shh." Kate brought her index finger up to her lips. "Come on, I want to show you something."

"I can't, my foot…"

"It'll be fine, trust me."

Haley swung her legs over the edge of the bed and stood up. Sure enough, there was no pain in her foot or in her knee.

"See?" Kate started walking towards the storage room, but stopped when she realized Haley wasn't following her.

"Where are we going?" Haley asked.

"I want to show you something in the tunnel. Come on."

Haley shrugged and followed her.

They lowered themselves into the hole, and Haley just looked around her in awe. She picked up a glowing yellow vial.

"Is this what Jack gave me?"

"Come on."

They had been walking for a while and didn't seem to be getting anywhere.

"How far is it?" Haley asked. But her question was soon answered when she saw the light up ahead, flooding into the tunnel, making it bright enough to turn off the flashlight.

"Come on, Haley!" Jack screamed, giving her CPR. "Come on!" He gave her mouth to mouth and went back to the compressions on her chest. He couldn't let another person die on this island. Not on his watch. He heard the beeping from the computer start up and there was no one else around to press the button. But he didn't care; he needed to save her. The button could wait.

"Are you coming?" Kate asked.

"Well, I dunno. What is it?"

"What do you mean, what is it?"

That's when Haley heard the beeping coming from the hatch. Jack was asleep and he wouldn't hear it.

"I have to go. I have to press the button for Jack."

"But we're almost there!"

"I can't! I have to go!" Haley turned around, but Kate grabbed onto her arm.

"You have to do this, Haley. You have to come with me. Trust me."

"I can't. I have to go."

Jack felt Haley's rib crack, but he kept the compressions going. He continued to the press hard on her chest, letting her ribs crunch under his palms. He was about to lean in and do mouth to mouth again, when she opened her eyes and took a deep breath.

"Good girl, good girl." Jack sat her up and held onto her. "Deep breaths. Just take deep breaths."

Haley tried to, but it hurt every time she sucked in. She looked around, wondering what was going on. Wasn't she just in the tunnel?

"One of your ribs cracked while I was giving you CPR. Sorry."

"Did I… Did I die?"

"You stopped breathing. You're heart stopped. Ya. For a minute there, you were dead."

"So I… But I was in the tunnel."

"In the tunnel?"

"Ya, Kate woke me up and told me to follow her to the tunnel." She stopped and coughed a few times, then continued. "And there was light at the end, and she kept telling me to follow her, and to trust her. But then I heard the computer beeping, so I had to come back and press the button."

"You heard the beeping?" And that's when Jack realized that the whole hatch was silent. The beeping had stopped. "Hang on." He got up and made his way to the computer. The numbers had just changed from 106 to 105, as he arrived. The numbers recounted on their own. This button did absolutely nothing.

Jack walked back in the room to see Haley sitting up, looking sort of shocked. She was staring ahead at nothing.

"Are you ok?" He asked.

"I can't believe I was dead. How was that dead? That was not dead. Dead is supposed to be better than that."

"Well it's just a good thing you heard the beeping. Or you might not have come back."

"That's weird. Isn't that weird?"

John came down to the hatch for his shift, and saw Jack just looking at him with an almost emotionless expression.

"Your button," Jack began, "is pointless."

John didn't know what to say.

"It does absolutely nothing. We've been wasting our time with this thing. Just go back to the beach."

"Jack, we haven't been wasting anything."

"Well I have. It doesn't – do – anything."

"How do you know?"

"How do I know? Because I didn't press the damn thing! Haley was dying when the alarm went off!"

"So you decided to risk the lives of everyone on this island, just to save Haley's."

"No. I simply chose to save Haley. She was dying, I needed to stop it. It had nothing to do with everyone else. And because of the choice I made, _no one_ is dead."

"I'm disappointed in you, Jack." John turned around and started to walk away, but Jack wasn't going to let him.

"Locke."

John stopped and looked at him.

"I just saved a girl's life. Her heart stopped beating! She wasn't breathing! And I saved her life!"

"How do you know she wasn't meant to die? What if she was all part of the plan and you ruined it?"

"Ok, you know what? If she wasn't meant to live, then she wouldn't have lived. OK? And as for this plan... This whole 'sacrifice the island was willing to make' crap, I've had enough. Obviously we don't see eye to eye. But I'm done pressing the button. There are more important things that need to be done."

"This is important. This is a job that you agreed to take on!"

"Ya, well I quit. I have a better job. It's being the doctor when no one else can."

Kate had no idea how she did it. She had no idea what came over her, but for a split second, it was like she went straight back to the old Kate. The Kate she had left behind when that plane crashed. She had changed. She didn't want to change back, she liked who she turned into. She liked who she had become. But she had to go and wreck it. But no, it was ok. It was either her, or him. What she did was right. She went purely on human instinct; there was nothing she could have done. She was back in the tunnel now, running back to the hatch as fast as she could. But she heard footsteps behind her. The others were going to catch her. But there was no one else around! The place was completely empty! Who else could have possibly been there? And where would they have been hiding? But that's when the person running behind her, called out her name, in a frighteningly familiar voice.

Jack sat down on the bed with small scissors and tweezers. Haley was reading The DaVinci code, and didn't acknowledge Jack.

"I need to take your stitches out of your forehead," He said.

Haley didn't take her eyes away from the book. "I'm almost done, hang on."

"Haley…"

"Hang on. This is my favourite part."

"You've already read it?"

"6 times. I bought it in Australia for the plane ride to LA. But you know, then we crashed. Good thing it's really good."

"Haley, I need to take out your stitches. Just set the book down for now."

"Fine." She closed her book and put it on her lap.

"Thank you." Jack started cutting the stitches and pulling them out of her skin.

"Ow."

Jack didn't say anything, he just did his job. Haley put her hand up to her face so Jack couldn't continue.

"Haley…"

"I don't want you to do this right now."

"If I wait any longer, your skin is going to grow over the thread."

"So?"

"So?"

"So, I don't want you to hurt me right now. I've been through so much the past few days. I've just had enough." Jack moved her hand away from her face, but she moved it back. "Stop."

"Let me do this." Jack moved Haley's hand out of the way again, but again, she moved it back. "Fine." He stood up and put his hand on his hips. "I'm trying to help you. What do you want me to do?"

"I don't know. But I can't take any more of this."

"It doesn't hurt to get stitches taken out. Especially compared to what you've had happen to you."

"Maybe after what I've had happen to me, something so small can seem so big."

"Just let me take the stitches out."

"You know, sometimes you're good at the sensitive doctor thing, but other times… You just suck at it."

"Ya. I know. Ok? I'm trying, here."

"Are you rude to waiters?"

"Huh?"

"Are you rude to waiters."

"I don't know."

"'Cause you know what they say. Someone who is nice to you, but rude to the waiter, is not a nice person."

"What does that have to do with anything?"

"Just answer the question."

"No. I'm not rude to waiters."

"Then why aren't you good at the sensitive doctor thing? Any real human being would have no problem with it."

Jack started to breathe a little quicker. He wiped his face with his hands and looked back at Haley. "I was never good at bedside manner. And I know it's an important quality to have in a doctor. But I tried. I tried being sympathetic about –"

"That's the problem," Haley interrupted. "You're not supposed to sympathize. You're supposed to care."

Jack sighed at looked into Haley's eyes. They were starting to tear, and he realized just how hard it must be for someone her age to go through all of this alone. But he never showed it. He never showed anything about his feelings. It would take so much for him to do that, and he certainly didn't show it to patients. Even when it was about them, and not him. What was wrong with him? Why couldn't he be a good person? But he was. He was a good person. Wasn't he?

"Jack!" It was Kate, calling from the storage room. Both Jack and Haley looked when they heard her shout. Jack ran over and met her halfway.

"What is it?" Jack asked. Kate turned her head to the storage room, to make Jack look past her. Someone came out of the hole in the floor and walked into the rest of the hatch. Jack's heart skipped a beat as he watched this person come into full view, making it clear who it was. "Walt?"

-- Insert suspenseful Lost sound here --


End file.
